Insignia eruditorum.

The badges of honour of the learned.

Ad Ioannem fratrem.

To my brother Jean.

Sive voles gracili versus componere socco,[1]
Sive Sophoclaeis reddere scripta notis:
Sive etiam causis solers versaris agundis,
Teque tenet Pylii Suademedulla senis.[2]
Tot tibi sunt veneres, ut iustè credere quivis
Possit apes labiis mellificasse tuis.
Ergo mihi Argiva solus spectabere parma:
Dignus & in nostris aureus esse focis.

Whether you are wishing to compose verses [suitable] for a graceful slipper, or to render the written word in the Sophoclean style*: Or even if you would be occupying yourself in legal actions, and the persuasive oratory of old Nestor has gripped you: You have so many passions, that it might reasonably be believed that bees had made honey in your lips. Therefore I think you shall appear alone on an Argive shield: Worthy to be a gilded [or splendid] [ornament] to our household.†
* Reddere: to render, as in translate, or to give a rendition. Notae: either letters or characters, or musical notes (Greek tragedy was rather sung than spoken).
† Presumably the author is suggesting that such a man as his brother would be a suitable decoration for a heraldic shield for a humanist household such as his, though characteristically his way with words is such that the meaning has become somewhat obscured.